Nailah Franklin on Fire?

September 27, 2007

Google Hot Trends USA is an excellent tool for monitoring daily news stories but labeling searches Volcanic, On Fire, Spicy, Medium and Mild might need to be rethought.

Searches for Nailah Franklin today are labeled “On Fire”.

This is troubling because Nailah Franklin, a pharmaceutical sales representative for Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly who was last heard from a week ago, was found dead earlier today.

I am sure the smart folks over at Google can come up with a more sensitive way of categorizing and describing news related searches for the recently departed.

Hot TrendsHot Trends

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Posted in Google Trends, Nailah Franklin | 1 Comment »

Innovation – The Competitive Gift Card Offer

July 31, 2007

I received the following question from Guideline Senior Project Manager Howard Waxman regarding gift card usage and had the following response.

Q: Subject: Comment on a thesis

Dear Mr. Cohn,

I’m doing some research for a client on the impact of gift cards on home improvement and home decorating e-tailing. I’m reaching out to people who think about marketing matters to ask for their thoughts about a thesis we have.

Our thesis is that smaller etailers in this category lose business to large multichannel retailers because people get gift cards as, well, gifts and then use them in the brick and mortar stores of the multichannel retailers.

For example, I need a lamp and I’m looking at some on LampsPlus.com but I haven’t made a purchase yet. Maybe I’m waiting to see if there is a post-holiday sale.

Then I get as a holiday present, a gift card to Home Depot. I take it down to my nearest brick & mortar Home Depot, hunt for a lamp, find one I like, use my gift card and maybe a couple of bucks in cash, buy it and take it home, never thinking to comparison shop at LampsPlus.

In other words, the savings offered by small etailers in this category is overpowered by the immediacy of a gift card to a larger retailer, especially a multichannel.

With gift card usage going through the roof, we want our client to think about whether they need to have gift cards or need to work more closely with non-specific gift card providers like Amex.

Would you have any comment to share on this thesis?

Thanks!

Howard Waxman
Senior Project Manager
tel: 212.463.6209
hwaxman at guideline.com

Guideline | 625 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10011 | http://www.guideline.com

A: Subject: Re: Comment on a thesis

Hi Howard,

Thanks for contacting me.

Your clients could use a tactic similar to the competitive upgrade offer in the technology business.

LampsPlus.com could accept competitors gift cards commensurate with set transaction sizes as an inducement provided the new customer’s lifetime value supports offering the discount.

All the best,

Tim Cohn

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Posted in Gift Card, Guideline.com | Leave a Comment »

Apple Rings Seven Digits to Reach iPhone

July 1, 2007

Jay Westerdahl at DomainTools.com confirms Apple has acquired iPhone.com from Michael Kovatch.

Although Michael didn’t confirm his domain name sales price, Jay thinks the iPhone.com sold for in excess of one million dollars.

Kovatch registered the domain way back in 1995 and had plans to build a company around it. He has instead decided to build a larger bank balance.

Like Mark Cuban said, you only need to get it right once in business.

Michael Kovatch got it right with iPhone.com.

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Posted in Apple, DomainTools.com, iPhone, iPhone.com, Mark Cuban | 1 Comment »

Estimating Adsense Revenue

June 29, 2007

I don’t know how accurate the Adsensemeter can be if it extrapolates a sites Adsense revenue earning potential from Alexa data.

It can however provide insight into markets for instance by comparing your site’s Adsense earning potential with that of your competition’s.

Adsensemeter

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Posted in Adsense, Adsensemeter, Alexa | Leave a Comment »

IP Address Lookup Locator

June 29, 2007

Although this IP Address tool isn’t perfect, it does give a general idea of where an IP address is located.

IP Address Lookup Locator

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Posted in IP Address Locator, IP Address Lookup | 1 Comment »

InStealthMode.com

June 28, 2007

On numerous occasions I have typed in a domain only to be redirected to the site InStealthMode.com.

Today I found them after looking at my content placement report stats in my Google Adwords My Client Center account.

Of all the sites my ads appeared on yesterday, their Domain Ads had by far generated the largest number of impressions. However, Google doesn’t report “Domain Ads” at the domain level like each of the other content partners in my report. I can only assume Domain Ads is also http://www.domainads.com.

Based on the large number of impressions “Domains Ads” generated, they appear to control a large domain portfolio. This leads me to conclude they are a professional domainer.

The InStealthMode.com site promises to launch on July 7, 2007. (07-07-07)

Their WhoIs Record shows Centreville, VA based DreamSeller Inc. – In Stealth Mode as the registrant.

It would be helpful to advertisers for Google Adwords to parse out the domains within parked domain portfolios too when bundling reports of large quantities of impressions under one reseller like Domain Ads.

InStealthMode.com

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Posted in Advertisers, Adwords, Domain Ads, Domain parking, Domain Portfolio, Domainer, Domains, InStealthMode.com, My Client Center, Professional Domainer, WhoIs | Leave a Comment »

Microsoft adCenter Advertising

June 27, 2007

Microsoft adCenter advertises its search engine advertising products via Google Adwords.

I wonder how much money Microsoft spends with Google to promote their search engine advertising products?

Microsoft adCenter Google Adwords

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Posted in adCenter, Microsoft, Search Engine Advertising | Leave a Comment »

Confusion and Ignorance…

June 27, 2007

Are the parents of profit.

The internet is rife with both.

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Posted in Internet | Leave a Comment »

Free Marketing Offer

June 26, 2007

Free has been declared one of the most powerful words in a marketers’ arsenal.

Whether or not to use “free” or not in your marketing communications is often debated.

Although I haven’t tested it yet, I believe a business could offer free dead cats and get a 1% response rate.

I received the following free website marketing analysis from a gentlemen in Sri Lanka this morning.

I would be happy to fulfill his request.

However in order to provide him with a marketing analysis of his web site, he must first have one!

Submitted on Tuesday 6/26/2007 7:58:48 AM
(Free Website Marketability Analysis Request)

Free Website Marketability Analysis Request from:

Company name: jagoda
Contact: 94773295264
Email Address: jagoda@cdl.lk
Phone Number: 94773295264
Address: 34/1 mowbray lane , modara
City: colombo 15
State: colombo
Postal Code: 00000
Country: sri lanka
Website Address: no

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Posted in Arsenal, Free, Marketer, Marketing, Marketing Analysis, Websites | Leave a Comment »

Profitable Internet Marketing?

June 26, 2007

I am amazed at some of the comments and inquiries my sites receive.

Lately I have been receiving a slew of email spam for top placement in Google.

However, the following was entered by hand at marketingprinciples.com.

The irony is that the salesman who’s name and company I have changed to protect the guilty, found my site via a search engine!

Submitted on Tuesday 6/26/2007 8:36:31 AM

(Profitable Internet Marketing)

“Joe Blow” sends the following:

Dear Website Owner, If I could get you five times the RELEVANT traffic at a substantially reduced cost would you be interested?

“Acme Optimizers” can place your website on top of the Natural Listings on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Our Search Engine Optimization team delivers more top rankings than anyone else and we can prove it. We do not use “link farms” or “black hat” methods that Google and the other search engines frown upon and can use to de-list or ban your site.

The techniques are proprietary, involving some valuable closely held trade secrets. Our prices are less than half of what other companies charge.

I would be happy to send you a proposal using the top search phrases for your area of expertise. Please contact me at your convenience so I can start saving you some money.

Please do not hesitate to email or call me if you would like further information.

Sincerely,
“Joe Blow”
Executive Vice President
“Acme Optimizers”
123 Main Street
Anytown, USA 98765
Toll Free: 1-800-Optimizers

joeblow@gmail.com

Profitable Internet Marketing

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Posted in Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | 1 Comment »

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